36 ;:f':: ,,.:f;Ì ;1(':,úi::' t:",,:: ," ;', '{{,::, ':"< \ 't,(:",, :"l 1 H :..,{::!;:J ' " "' ' .:t t: :.<:: :' :;:::::: ;.:;.0. .=:- :t : :;ø 1M , : @ -----_: , ""ti j::í.tÆ::;],;: ,:: t1 ,=':,:w',',"'" :", : k! r :> ,Æ j L!r."; t{ , i i "; {%:, .....::: ,\'00",% f ;, :'-:';:'C:':,:,*wF:' , .. ' ) f.. -- ; ' .. Ji ' < ; '1 0', I /í{ :' "-:'"':'. .::. . .;.....: .:: 1 :. ::- t- O ' ! J ? J , imaginatIon. In childhood the creatIve faculty is most active, most contemptu- ous of the distinctions between dream and reality. Everyone is a poet before he is ten, and many small poets deal comp1etely with words, rhyme, and metre, and with the heroic and mock- heroic genres. The young poet sometimes treats the contemporary American scene. Coun- try rhymes are concerned with country sights and sounds, with the child's dear animals. (He seems to be unconSCIOUS of flowers.) City rhymes reflect apart- ment life. The bouncing ball punctuates Judge, judge, tell the judge Mamma has a baby. It's a boy, full of joy, Papa'6 going crazy. Wrap it up in tissue paper, Send it down the elevator. How many pounds did it weigh? One, two, three, etc. 1:1 The Macy store has gained a place in metropolitan childlore, an honor attained by none of its rivals: I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more, There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door, He grab me by the collar and he make me pay a dollar, So I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more. The children have no reluctance about n1en tioning proprietary articles: Ivory soap, See it float Down the river Like a boat. Roll, roll, T ootsie Roll, Roll, marble, in the hole. In general, however, observation of life has little part in childhood's corpus poeticum. The young poet is a romanti- cist, no realist. Some of his songs are likely to lead elder critics astray. Thus, when we hear him chant: Floor to let, Inquire within; Lady put out For drinking gin. If she promises to drink no more, Here's the key to her back door we are tempted to describe his song as an acrid commentary on the prohibition era, America's gin years. But a very similar version was reported in War- wickshire, England, in the last cen- tury.. The small poet's works may have their sources in literature as well as in life. The most beloved of children's literature, to the great mass of democ- racy's offspring, is, of course, the fun-